Former Legislator Casperson Dies

Former Michigan legislator Tom Casperson has died.

The Escanaba Republican spent six years as the 108th District State Representative, then served two terms as the 38th District State Senator. He was term limited in 2018, and it was about that same time that he was diagnosed with lung cancer that claimed his life Sunday at age 61. 

Casperson is being remembered as a legislator whose love of the U.P. was greater than his devotion to his party. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich of Flint last night said Casperson “brought that passion for his community to the Legislature every single day that he served.”

Casperson’s successor in the state senate, Ed McBroom, called him “a brother, a friend, a mentor, a confidant, and a partner in mischief and good work.” Casperson had been working as an aide to McBroom. The Senate GOP Caucus saluted him as a “titan of the Upper Peninsula.”